Coming from Tehran to New York, these two immigrant brothers have made their mark on the real estate world.
Joseph and Daniel Rahmani have made good on the words “family business” with their firm Capital Property Partners. For almost ten years, the two residents of Great Neck have brokered over $7 billion in real estate transactions in New York and beyond. These are impressive figures for anyone in the industry, let alone two immigrants who came to the US from Iran as children without knowing a word of English.
Their story is a rags-to-riches testament to the tenacity and resourcefulness of immigrants, with siyata dishmaya and spiritual awakening mixed in. Enjoy!
—Rea
Joseph: “We were born in Tehran, Iran; we moved to the US when I was seven years old and Daniel was two. We lived in Queens from 1989 to 1996. It was difficult in terms of learning the language; we had no idea about anything. We started out in public school for a few months just to learn English, and then we transferred to a yeshivah day school in Queens. We weren’t frum; we were more traditional. We would have the Friday-night meals together, but we would drive to shul.
“My mother was a housewife. She had four boys to take care of. I’m the second, and Daniel is the youngest. My father had a pharmacy in Iran. He was always a hard worker; when he was ten years old, he worked for his father, selling rugs and things like that—anything to make a buck. When they got here, they had to leave everything behind.
“You couldn’t tell anyone you were leaving the country; you had to say you were just going for a visit. If they saw you selling anything, they’d realize you weren’t coming back, so you had to leave everything there and just come with whatever suitcases you had. My father came here with basically nothing.
“He had a few brothers who were already here, working in the Garment District, so he joined them. It wasn’t easy. He worked long hours, and he didn’t know the language. He would get up at five in the morning, take the subway from Queens to the city, and not come home until 7:30 or 8:00 at night. He did everything he could to support the family, paying for tuition and everything.
“I saw him working around the clock, and I thought, ‘It’s insane to work so many hours. I never want to do that.’ And we weren’t even rich—we were just making ends meet. It was definitely not easy. There were no vacations, no Pesach trips, none of that. We were four boys living in a two-bedroom apartment with our parents. Two of us shared a bedroom, one slept in my parents’ room, and another slept in the living room.”
Daniel: “It was definitely easier for me in certain ways than it was for my brothers, but in other ways, it was probably harder. Seeing my father work so many hours was mind-boggling. I found it incredible that he came here with nothing, didn’t know the language, and still managed to work every day in the city.
“I never went to public school, thank G-d. I was in yeshivah my whole life. When we moved to Great Neck from Queens in 1995, my three older brothers started walking to the shul that was closest to our house. I was driving with my parents to the bigger, more popular shul that wasn’t within walking distance.
“After a couple of years, closer to my bar mitzvah, I became more observant, and eventually my parents did as well. Then we started going to the same shul my brothers went to.”
Joseph: “I became shomer Shabbat in the seventh grade, right after my bar mitzvah. One Shabbat I called my best friend to ask him to hang out with me, and his father told me he wasn’t answering the phone anymore. My first reaction was, ‘What? He didn’t even tell me that!’ But then I thought, ‘If he can do it, I can do it,’ and I stopped. It was as simple as that.
“We all went to HANC [Hebrew Academy of Nassau County] for high school. After I graduated in 2000, I went to Hofstra for a year, but I didn’t like it. The lifestyle was completely different from what I was used to. I had been in yeshivah until then, and Hofstra just wasn’t for me. So after my freshman year, I transferred to Yeshiva University, where I studied finance.
“I knew I couldn’t become a doctor because I have a fear of blood, even though my parents were pushing us toward medical school. Two of my brothers are doctors, but it wasn’t an option for me. So I thought, ‘Let me become a lawyer.’ After YU, I decided to take a year off before law school to work, make some money, maybe get married. But once I started working, I never went back to school.
“I worked for a private real estate investor I knew from Great Neck. I helped him make a few deals, but I wasn’t making much money. After six to eight months, I had learned the business, but I realized I was helping him make money without seeing any for myself. So I decided to branch out on my own.
“I was 22. It was very difficult. I knew the real estate business, but I didn’t know how to start a company—things like forming an LLC or handling taxes. Plus you need money to start a business. I teamed up with my two younger cousins, who were 20 and 19 at the time. We maxed out some credit cards, put in whatever money we had and started a real estate firm.”
Daniel: “I graduated high school in 2005 and completed YU in three years, majoring in biology and psychology. I was on a pre-med track in college, following the path of my two older brothers who became doctors. But I wasn’t passionate about it. I couldn’t see myself doing dentistry or medicine. After college, I went to Joseph’s office to hang out, and after just a few days of observing, I fell in love with real estate. This was in 2008.
“At first, it was the hustle—the atmosphere of people in suits, making calls, closing deals. I loved the fast-paced environment. On top of that, seeing the lifestyle of my other two brothers, who were always on call and worked around the clock, made me realize I didn’t want that. Real estate felt like a better fit for my personality and goals. Although I didn’t take a single real estate class and didn’t have any background, I realized it suited me more than medicine.”
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